Tuesday, April 12, 2011

In Febuary room 1 made recycled art people out of recycled materials. This was in relation with our class novel, Kensuke's Kingdom. We used fabric, pipecleaners, googely eyes, cotton balls and many other recycable materials. We used stencils made out of recycled paper to make the shape of a person. We displayed them out side our classroom. Children can also do this. We would recomend to get teachers or parents to supervise you because you will be using scissors. For diffeculty we would give it 5 /10. For how good it was we said 10/10. Have a look at the pic attached.Thank you for reading this blog.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

As part of the Green School Programme we had to decide on a slogan or code for our school which linked to being green. We decided to hold a slogan competition amongst all the pupils in the school. This was combined with a poster competition. The Green School committee gathered up all the entries. There were some great slogans and the committee found it really difficult to choose a winner. After a lot of discussion it was finally agreed that our slogan/code would be

"Green School, Green Street, Green Future".

The committee really liked how it used the fact that the school is situated on Green Street. The winning entry was written by Kyle Monaghan and Conor Malone - both of whom are in Ms. Cleary's 2nd class.

The code is now on display in every classroom and all around the school.

Monday, March 28, 2011

'Compost Crews' from Ms. Ruddock's fifth class take charge of monitoring the use of the compost bins and emptying them each day.

Very successful poster and slogan competition held in the school. The Green School committee picked a winner for each class. Each winner won notebooks, pens, rulers, yo-yos and fridge magnets - all of which were either made from recycled materials or promoted recycling and which were given to us by Wexford Co. Council. All the entries for the competition are now on display all around the school.

Green School Code chosen from the slogans on the posters -"Green School, Green Street, Green Future".

Green School notice board and blog have been set up.

Information about recycling and composting displayed in all rooms in use and in public areas around the school.

All classes provided with a sweeping brush and dustpan.

Recycling bags in all classrooms.

Scrap paper boxes/trays in all classrooms.

Improvement in number of recyclable lunchboxes and drinks containers in use in the school.

Number of 240 litre bins full of rubbish going from school to landfill reduced from 7 to 2.

Composting – new area for compost set up in front of the school. Large compost bins cleaned out. Working on mixing contents with foliage to help dry it out. Hoping to have our own compost for the garden by the end of the year.

A LOT less litter around the school.

Much more awareness around the school about litter and waste management.

Our litter warden system has been working very well. Each week one class takes responsibility for picking up the litter in the school yard and the buildings. Each day, immediately after lunchtime, four boys from the class on duty collect the litter pickers and buckets and set off to collect rubbish from various zones around the school. The amount of litter being collected has greatly reduced as members of the school community become more aware of the need to reduce, re-use and recycle!

Friday, February 18, 2011

We made these cars with recycled materials that are usually thrown out! Cardboard boxes, bbq sticks, old objects, plastic bottles and bottle tops, old toys, wood, butter tubs and lots more recycled materials were used to make these. We had to make the car move using an axel and four wheels. Some people added paint to theirs to finish it off. We had a lot of fun making them. It just goes to show that old rubbish can come in useful!!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

For art we had to make Kilmainham Gaol out of recycled things. For the cells we had to use old shoeboxes. Before we started making them we learned what else was in a cell back then and then used recycled items to make them.First we got divided into two and then used fist sized sponges to paint the shoe boxes. We mixed black and white paint to make grey and then used the sponges to lightly paint the cells. After the cells were painted and dried, we used items that were brought in from home, such as egg cartons, tin foil, matchboxes, paper, old bits of fabric etc. Back then there wasn't a lot of furniture in the cells. There was only a candle that was supposed to last two weeks, a pine bed, a chair, a bucket and a barred window. Some people used items to make prisoners as well.While we were doing that two other boys were making stairs for the gaol. They used a cardboard tube and then glued tinfoil to the tube and then stuck matchsticks, the size of a toothpick, for the steps.Afterwards we got a huge sheet of card and painted it grey and black to make it look dirty. While it was drying we got two big shoeboxes for the top of the gaol and stuck them together and put the stairs in the middle. We did the same to the other cells.Finally we found a lid, painted it black, put it on top for the roof and then we were finished.This is how we made our recylcable gaol.

Monday, February 14, 2011

The boys in Br. Kinsella's fourth class were asked to use the information they'd learned about batteries and electricity in science to design and construct lighthouses with flashing lights. In line with the school's green school ethos they were asked to use only recycled materials in the construction. As you can see from the pictures they did a great job!